


Worldbuilding - The Silent Sister

by myotpruinedmylife



Series: The Silent Sister [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Gen, just notes on worldbuilding rn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-07
Updated: 2019-01-18
Packaged: 2019-04-19 13:44:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 16
Words: 5,914
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14238558
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/myotpruinedmylife/pseuds/myotpruinedmylife
Summary: Just jotting down some notes





	1. House Characterizations

Most Ancient and Noble Houses

1\. Ravenclaw  
2\. Hufflepuff  
3\. Gryffindor  
4\. Slytherin  
5\. Peverell  
6\. Black  
7\. Foster

Ancient and Noble Houses

1\. Abbott  
2\. Bones  
3\. Boot  
4\. Bulstrode  
5\. Burke  
6\. Carrow  
7\. Crouch  
8\. Davis  
9\. Diggory  
10\. Goldstein  
11\. Greengrass  
12\. Lestrange  
13\. Longbottom  
14\. Lovegood  
15\. Macmillan  
16\. Malfoy  
17\. Nott  
18\. Ogden  
19\. Parkinson  
20\. Prewett  
21\. Prince  
22\. Rookwood  
23\. Rowle  
24\. Scamander  
25\. Shacklebolt  
26\. Shafiq  
27\. Yaxely

Noble Houses

1\. Avery  
2\. Bagshot  
3\. Bell  
4\. Brown  
5\. Cattermole  
6\. Corner  
7\. Crabbe  
8\. Davies  
9\. Dolohov  
10\. Dumbledore  
11\. Edgecombe  
12\. Fawley  
13\. Flint  
14\. Fudge  
15\. Gaunt  
16\. Goyle  
17\. Johnson  
18\. Jordan  
19\. Macnair  
20\. McLaggen  
21\. Montague  
22\. Ollivander  
23\. Robins  
24\. Rosier  
25\. Runcorn  
26\. Scrimgeour  
27\. Selwyn  
28\. Slughorn  
29\. Spinnet  
30\. Thicknesse  
31\. Travers  
32\. Vance  
33\. Vector  
34\. Weasley  
35\. Wood

Foreign Houses

Patil - approx. equivalent of Ancient and Noble  
Pollaccia - approx. equivalent of Most Ancient and Noble  
Zabini - approx. equivalent of Ancient and Noble  
Finnigan - approx. equivalent of Noble  
Walsh - approx. equivalent of Ancient and Noble  
Chang - approx. equivalent of Ancient and Noble  
Li - approx. equivalent of Most Ancient and Noble  
Karkaroff - approx. equivalent of Noble  
Delacour - approx. equivalent of Ancient and Noble  
Krum - approx. equivalent of Ancient and Noble


	2. Most Ancient and Noble Houses

Ravenclaw  
Died with Helena Ravenclaw

Hufflepuff  
Name died in 15th century, 3 houses descended (Bones, Smith, Abbott) any are eligible to petition Lordship

Gryffindor  
Name died in 14th century, 1 house descended (Longbottom) eligible to petition for Lordship

Slytherin  
Name died in 12th century, 1 house descended (Gaunt) no current eligibility to petition

Peverell  
Name changed to Potter in 13th century, Potters still hold seat. No Lord, Heir Hadrian Potter

Black  
Lord Arcturus Black, Heir Sirius Black

Foster  
Lady Stacy Foster, Heir Susan Foster, to change to Julianna Foster on her 11th bday

NOTE ON PETITIONING LORDSHIPS - the Ministry has zero jurisdiction. The Goblins are who you go to. They will then perform a test as guided by the House guidelines, should the test be passed, they can try the ring. If the Family Magics accept them, they are the new Lord/Lady.

The only people the Most Ancient and Noble Houses are lower than are Emrys, Pendragon and Le Fay (extinct for centuries), and Windsor. That's right - the Queen is still Queen of Wizarding Britain, and she knows it exists. Should she want to, she could technically dismantle the government, but since her only point of contact right now is the Ministry, she thinks everything is fine. When she finds out the truth... boy is she gonna be pissed.


	3. Ancient and Noble Houses

Abbott - Lady Anne Abbott, Heir Hannah Abbott

Bones - Regent Amelia Bones, Heir Susan Bones

Boot - Lord Jonathan Boot, Heir Terrence Boot

Bulstrode - Lord Hercules Bulstrode, Heir Perseus Bulstrode

Burke - Lord Caractacus Burke, No Heir

Carrow - Lord Amycus Carrow, Heir Alecto Carrow

Crouch - Lord Bartemious Crouch, no Heir

Davis - Lord John Davis, Heir Tracy Davis

Diggory - Lord Amos Diggory, Heir Cedric Diggory

Goldstein - Lord William Goldstein, Heir Anthony Goldstein

Greengrass - Lord Jacob Greengrass, Heir Daphne Greengrass

Lestrange - Lord Rodolphus Lestrange, Heir Rabastan Lestrange

Longbottom - Regent Augusta Longbotton, Heir Neville Longbottom

Lovegood - Lord Xenophilius Lovegood, Heir Luna Lovegood

Macmillan - Lord Oscar Macmillan, Heir Ernest Macmillan

Malfoy - Lord Lucius Malfoy, Heir Draco Malfoy

Nott - Lord Theodore Nott Sr. Heir Theodore Nott Jr.

Ogden - Lord Tiberious Ogden, Heir Claudius Ogden

Parkinson - Lord Prometheus Parkinson, Heir Pansy Parkinson

Prewett - No Lord or Heir

Prince - Lord Septimus Prince, Heir Severus Snape

Rookwood - Lord Augustus Rookwood, Heir Deirdre Rookwood

Rowle - Lord Alistair Rowle, Heir Thorphinn Rowle

Scamander - Lord Theseus Scamander, Heir Rolf Scamamnder

Shacklebolt - Lord Kingsley Shackebolt, no Heir

Shafiq - No Lord or Heir

Yaxely - Lord Corban Yaxley, no Heir


	4. Foreign Houses

Patil - the Patil twins are cousins of the main family line, seventh and eighth in line for inheritance.

Pollaccia - Nina Foster née Pollaccia is the second daughter of the cousin of Lord Pollaccia. Ineligible to inherit.

Zabini - Lady Violetta Zabini, Heir Blaise Zabini. Blaise’s father was Violetta’s first husband, the only one she actually loved. He was killed in a Potions mishap. Violetta went on to make a living as a Black Widow, targeting men who deserved it. She’s not a good person, but she loves her son dearly. Blaise is in no way abused.

Finnigan - Seamus is a halfblood, his mother is the sister of the Lord of the family. His muggle father agreed to let him have her name in the wizarding world, for status reasons. In the muggle world, he goes by Seamus O’Malley.

Walsh - Michael Walsh is the second son of the second cousin of the Lord of the Family. He is fourteenth in line to inherit.

Chang - Cho Chang is the niece of the Lord of the Family. Her father’s brother is the Lord, and he has an heir. She is third in line to inherit, though.

Li - Su Li is a third cousin of the main line. Very low chance of inheritance.

Karkaroff - Lord Igor Karkaroff, no Heir.

Delacour - Lord Gabriel Delacour, neither daughter can inherit due to creature laws in France. (They will hopefully be repealed later, but honestly I haven’t gotten that far in the story yet)

Krum - Victor Krum is the nephew of the Lord, who is his mother’s brother. His father is lower status so he took his mother’s name.

Grindelwald - Noble, Gellert was a nephew of the Lord, his cousin has now taken over the house and changed its name (that happens)

 

Note - a lot of Houses in Europe died during Grindelwald’s War.


	5. Noble Houses

Avery  
Bagshot  
Bell - Katie is the heir  
Brown - Lavender’s older brother Michael is the heir.  
Cattermole  
Corner - Michael is the cousin of the heir.  
Crabbe - Vincent is the heir  
Davies - Roger is the heir  
Dolohov  
Dumbledore - Albus is the Lord. Aberforth is Heir.  
Edgecombe - Marietta is the heir  
Fawley  
Flint - Marcus is the heir  
Fudge - Cornelius is the Lord  
Gaunt - died out. Obviously.  
Goyle - Gregory is the heir  
Johnson - Angelina is the heir  
Jordan - Lee is the heir  
Macnair  
McLaggen - Cormac is the heir  
Montague  
Ollivander - Ollivander is the Lord. No Heir.  
Robins - Demelza is the heir  
Rosier  
Runcorn  
Scrimgeour - Rufus is the Lord  
Selwyn  
Slughorn - Horace is the Lord. No Heir.  
Spinnet - Alicia is the cousin of the heir.  
Thicknesse - Pius is the Lord  
Travers  
Vance  
Vector  
Weasley - Arthur is the Lord, technically, but never actually does any of the politics surrounding it.  
Wood - Oliver is the heir.

There used to be more Noble Houses, but a lot died out in the War.


	6. Magic and How it Works

 

Magic itself is Neutral

 

Every magical being has a magical core - that core is affected by the soul, making the magic light/grey/dark

 

Someone with a Dark core will have trouble casting light spells and vice versa. THIS DOES NOT MEAN IT IS IMPOSSIBLE. It’s just harder.

 

Most spells are Neutral. There are, of course, exceptions. For example, the Patronus is a light spell. The Killing Curse is a dark spell.

 

So are Dark people evil?

 

No.

 

There is a type of magic, called Black Magic, which makes people evil. Anyone, no matter their core, can perform Black Magic. But the more Black Magic you perform, the more you and your core and soul are corrupted. Eventually, it will drive you insane. (See Tom Riddle and Bellatrix Black)

 

Types of Magic itself:

 

Spell Magic (transfiguration, charms, parts of dada and dark arts, etc)

Potions

Ritual Magic

Runic Magic

Blood Magic

 

Note - Parselmagic is a subset of spell magic, just in parseltongue.

 

Spells can be in just about any language you want.

 

Ritual magic involves a lot of chanting.

 

Runic magic uses - you guessed it - runes.

 

Blood magic is the most difficult type of magic. Only Goblins and Unspeakables are always authorized to use it. Certain Ritual Masters and Ward Masters can be authorized, but it takes decades of study. Healers are authorized to use Blood Magic in emergencies. High-level Aurors can use Blood Magic to help catch and contain criminals. (Amelia Bones is authorized to use Blood Magic in emergencies). Healers and Aurors who use blood magic have a review after every incident to make sure it was necessary.

 

Wards - generally made with runes and sealed with spells, potions, or blood magic. Wards sealed with parselspells are more secure because it takes parselspells to unseal them. Wards sealed with Potions require potions to unseal, etc etc you get the picture.

 

(The Fidelius is a type of ward sealed with Blood Magic. The blood of the Secret Keeper, to be exact.)

 

Lily Evans Potter - she made up a ritual using blood magic to save Harry’s life. If she lived, she would have been arrested and tried. Now, she likely would have gotten off with a fine and/or community service, given the circumstances, but still. The chances that the whole thing blew up in her face was really, really high. She got lucky.

 

Transfiguration uses Will and Imagination

Charms uses Wand Movement and Pronunciation

DADA and Dark Arts use Want and Creativity

Potions uses Precision and Creativity

 

Juli is good at potions and DADA/Dark Arts

Lili is good at DADA/Dark Arts and Transfiguration

Neither is good at Charms

 

By the way, Lili has a Light Grey core, Juli has a Dark Grey core.


	7. Finances in Large Houses

So it seems like a lot of Houses have one family, and that’s it. It's just them. This is obviously not true for the Fosters, or for a lot of the Houses in my universe, so here’s how Houses handle family vaults.

There are the three main House Vaults. One is for books, one for heirlooms, and one for money. The Head of House uses the House Vault for everyday spending usually, because their job _is_ being Head of House. It takes up a lot of time to run a House.

Then, each Family in a House has their own vault. They start off with a set amount given to them on their seventeenth birthday (each House has a different set amount - each House has a different Charter) and then the adults fill the Vault with money they make from their jobs.

BTW - Jobs. James was Head of House starting just after his 17th bday. (His parents died, remember.) Lily was a Healer in training. (So was Alice - Frank was an Auror). Sirius was a Hitwizard.

In the Foster family, Stacy (Elizabeth’s cousin - dear god I need to figure out how to post the family tree) is Head of House. Elizabeth and Michael work as investors and financial advisors. Elizabeth’s father was a lawyer, her mother a tutor for pureblood children, teaching them basic skills like reading and writing, as well as history. Elizabeth has two sisters, Julia and Susan, both of which are lawyers, as are their husbands. (Yeah… a lot of lawyers.) So all of them are pretty well off even without aid from the House Vault, which they get if they run into trouble.

For the kids - as soon as a child is born, the House sets up a Vault to help the child be taken care of. Every year on the child’s birthday, a set amount is sent to the Vault. This amount usually increases on the child’s 11th birthday. A child’s school fees and supply fees are taken care of from the House Vault traditionally.

Some old fashion families still have a set dowry vault for every daughter of the House, to be given to her upon marriage, but it’s falling out of favor. Neither the Potters or the Fosters do that anymore (nor the Longbottoms).

So in the Foster House Vault, they have 1,233,543,534 G, 435,345 S, and 2,344 K. Juli’s family has 6,938,394 G, 5,384 S, and 432 K. On her birthday, Juli was given a vault with 500 G. It is replenished with 100 G every year, which will double to 200 G once she turns 11. Her parents use some of it to buy birthday and Christmas presents, and she is allowed to withdraw 10 G a month. When she turns 11, that will become 25 G a month. That limit was set by her parents. Juli’s vault currently has 428 G, 123 S, and 13 K. Same for her brother and all her cousins (though they have slightly different withdrawal limits depending on their parents). When she turns 17, her trust vault will close and she will be given a new vault with different security (as it’s her adult vault that she’ll use for the rest of her life) and 1,000 G to start up. Normally, when Lili was adopted she would be given a trust vault with 500 G, which would be filled with 100 G every year from then on, but since Lili is the Heir of her own Most Ancient and Noble House, her parents discuss it with her, Stacy, and her account manager, and decide to just let her have the Potter Trust Vault set up for her.

The Potter House Vault has 1,594,247,292 G, 1,284,384 S, and 12,182 K. Lili’s trust vault, made on her birthday, had 500 G to start with, with an additional 250 G added every year, to double to 500 on her 11th birthday. Her parents spent a little for her first Christmas and Birthday, but it hasn’t been touched since, so she has 1,273 G, 182 S, and 53 K.

Property - most Houses have a Manor, where the Head of House lives. Sometimes more of the family live with them. In the case of the Fosters, Stacy lived there with her parents until they passed, and then, since she didn’t want to be alone and her aunt and uncle were retiring anyway, she asked them to move in with her, so Juli’s grandparents live there as well. Susan Foster and her family live on a family property that was bought in the 1700s but both Julia and Elizabeth bought their own houses. There are a few unused family properties around the country, as well as a few vacation houses. There’s one in Italy, of course, since Nina is from there, and one in Ireland, since Michael is from there. There’s also one in Switzerland and one in Greece. Juli and her family go to the Switzerland house a lot because they like skiing. Nina and John use the Italy house to let Nina visit her family at least once a year, usually more.

The Potters had a Manor, which was damaged in a Death Eater attack and was finished being repaired less than a week before the Halloween attack. The cottage in Godric’s Hollow was another family property. There are two more in the country, and there’s one in France and one in Egypt.

And that’s how money usually works in old Houses like the Fosters or Potters (or Blacks. Though they definitely still have dowry vaults.)

 

UPDATE: I FORGOT CONVERSION RATES

 

I decided to go ahead with what JK says so 1 G = approx. 5 pounds, which is a little less than $7 for all the Americans out there. 1 S = approx. 30p (40c). 1 K is about 1 pence/cent.


	8. Quick note on Diversity

So, I am a HUGE fan of Harry Potter as a Southeast Asian/Indian. I think it’s a fantastic fan theory, I head cannon it 99% of the time, etc.

 

_However_ , for this story, he (she) cannot be a POC. Since this is shameless self-insert, and Juli (who is me) is becoming Lili’s twin sister, and I am super fucking white, Harry needs to be white. Just this once. I hope to make up for it in future stories.

 

For most other characters, I’m headcannonning away. Hermione - black. Totally. Blaise is already black, but he’s going to be a more major character. The Weasleys are still white, only because they are ginger and there are very few full-ginger families that are FOC (families of color - is that a thing? it is now). Neville is white, sorry. Another character who’s going to be head cannoned as POC is Luna, actually. I read an awesome fic - will link once I find it, it’s somewhere in my subscriptions - in which she is half Japanese, through her mother. Xenophilius is still white, but Pandora is Japanese. Xenophilius is also Lucius Malfoy’s cousin, making Luna and Draco second cousins. This will be important later (and also helps describe their shared traits. Besides I just love Draco who finds out he has a cousin, goes to meet her, and is _totally baffled_.) And Sirius, and by extension the Blacks, are actually mixed East Asian (primarily Tibetan, with some Chinese and a dash of Japanese thrown in, plus some white from where they married into British pureblood society.) Which leads to - a lot of people have Dorea Black, who was canonically James Potter’s aunt, as his mother. In this story, she is not his biological mother, just a very close aunt who helps raise him since his parents are older. Her husband, Charlus, dies shortly after James was born. Fleamont and Euphemia are James’s parents, and they love him very much, but both are older, so they have Dorea move in and help. So James kind of has three parents. Another note - lots of people have Sirius blood adopt Harry. In my fic, Sirius and James were brothers in magic, a thing that I’ll go into more detail with later, but not blood related, and when Harry is born, Sirius and Alice (his godmother) do a ritual connecting them to Harry through magic but not in blood, so Harry is fully white. (Lily did the same with Neville, btw.) And back to Draco for a second - his mother is half asian (Druella Rosier is white), making him a quarter again. His eyes are somewhat asian, as is his nose and cheekbones, but his coloring is pretty white, other than his eyes, which are traditional Black grey. 

 

Snape is white, but he’s also a bad guy, so… Also Riddle and Dumbledore, for both the white and bad guy thing. Just a warning. I know a lot of bad!Dumbledore fics make either Snape or Riddle (or both) good guys. They aren’t. Riddle is a genocidal maniac, and Snape is a “nice guy” who’s a racist child abuser. So they’re all bad. On the other hand, the Weasleys aren’t bad. They aren’t perfect - they have their flaws, each of them, and I will explore said flaws in this story, but they are good guys in general. Another note - Draco, while a prick, is a child. He will not be good to begin with, but he’ll get his redemption. So will Narcissa. Lucius? Not so much. Basically, none of the children in this story are truly bad, just young and stupid. Almost all of them get a second shot, and the ones that don’t aren’t really evil, just assholes. There’s a difference.

 

OKAY - that’s about it on POC in my story - I’ll edit if I think of anyone else important. As for LGBT - that’s spoiling :). Also they’re 5, so. Wait a few years.


	9. Muggleborns and Squibs

To start - I’m going with the obvious answer to muggleborns - they are descended from squibs. _Mostly_.

So most magical talents are inherited, only activated by active magic, which wixen (and therefore muggleborns) have. Squibs have a small amount of passive magic, enough to make a few kinds of potions and use Herbology. Many muggles are actually squibs and don’t know it, up until their children are born wixen. Most muggleborns have a magical ancestor within 5 generations. After 5 generations, the magic fades to the point the family become full muggles. (Yes, Petunia is a squib. So is Dudley. They would be horrified if they knew.)

There is one exception to “squib-born” muggleborns, and those are the Magic Blessed. Once a generation, Magic chooses a worthy soul to receive magic, with no previous signs. They are often but not always granted a title that has previously gone extinct. (In a few cases, the muggleborn is born into a magical society without titles. Many North and Central American magical communities have different societal structures than European, Asian and African ones.)

Yes, a main character is going to be Magic Blessed. Yes, you can probably guess who. No, I will not confirm it, nor the title they receive. Still, feel free to place your bets in the comments.


	10. Occlumency and Legillimancy

So in my latest chapter, I wrote that Lili had a predisposition to Occlumency and Legillimancy. I couldn’t have her as a natural Occlumens, because that’s really rare, or a natural Legillimens, because that’s also really rare and also has been explored slightly in canon. I will be keeping with canon for the most part in that case.

As for Occlumency and Legillimancy in everyone else, let me explain:

So Legillimancy in everyone but natural Legillimans is a skill that can be learned. It requires eye contact, can be blocked by Occlumency, and the stronger the Legillimans the stronger the Occlumency required to keep it out. Legillimans are supposed to register at the ministry, but like all things, not all do.

For natural Legillimans, they don’t need eye contact and all but the strongest Occlumens can keep them out. Even they can’t keep them out of their top thoughts, only the layers below it. Natural Legillimans are born with the skill, and it can lead to a difficult childhood - constantly hearing everyone’s thoughts is hard. Some learn a measure of control over time, some even try illegal methods to block it (which almost never work anyway). Muggleborns can, in fact, inherit the talent, for reasons that will be explained soon.

Occlumency, on the other hand, is a very important skill. It does not just block Legillimancy, it helps organize the mind and even stabilize a wixen’s magical core. Since almost all children from rich or Noble Houses learn it growing up, it is not necessary to register. Muggleborns are often the only ones not taught the skill, but there are a few super “Light” houses that don’t teach it because it’s supposedly “Dark” (coughDumbledorepropogandacough). The Weasleys are one of these families. (They will come around.) Most children begin learning Occlumency at age 7, because your magical core goes through a growth spurt then and can better handle the magical portions of Occlumency. Speaking of - Occlumency is a magical art, using one’s magic to organize and defend the mind, the same way magic reads minds with Legillimancy. Muggles can learn basic meditation techniques that mimic the beginning stages of Occlumency, but they will never learn the full art. Active Occlumency is stronger than Passive Occlumency (which all Occlumens are always using one they’ve gotten to a certain point), but it takes energy and concentration. Consider it a stronger defense against Legillimancy, and not used much otherwise.

Natural Occlumens are the only ones who can fully resist any and all Legillimans - even natural ones. They can lower their sheilds briefly, but it takes effort and leaves them exposed, so few will except in an emergency (such as when giving memories for testimony). They are resistant but not immune to most compulsions of any kind, including the Imperious Curse. They can resist Veritaserum enough to keep answers short or not answer but not enough to lie, which is why it’s such a great potion (most other truth potions can be resisted properly by natural Occlumens, as well as very strong Occlumens, and they can also be made obsolete by “vaccines” which are illegal and expensive but often used by darker families. This is how many of the Death Eaters got off - Veritaserum was invented in response to the Death Eater trials, a year and a half after Voldemort’s defeat.)

 

Note on the Imperious Curse - other than very strong Occlumency or a natural resistance (what Harry had in canon), the only way to become resistant to it is repeated exposure, so many dark and neutral families are in the practice of using it on children to teach them to resist it, using embarrassing but not dangerous commands. (Or dangerous, for abusive families.) Even a few light families do this, but it’s rare. (Note that in canon, Harry was in Defense class with Hufflepuffs, which has the second highest rate of light families. The only one in the class who could’ve resisted other than Harry is Susan Bones, but she deliberately didn’t resist because she didn’t trust Moody with the knowledge that she could. Hannah was also resistance trained, but found it far more difficult. She may have been able to resist a few seconds, but not more. She will need more training to resist better. Many of the Ravenclaws and Slytherins were also resistance trained, and many did resist, to various degrees, they just didn’t advertise it the way Harry did.)


	11. The Deal with Noble Houses

So one of the comments was saying they could "hardly think [the Cattermoles and Runcorns] could be considered noble” and it made me realize I need to explain a few things.

 

So first things first - Noble Houses? Not a big deal. There used to be around 100, but a bunch died off in Grindelwald’s War and Voldemort’s First War. In order to go to Hogwarts, you have to pay tuition fees unless you get a scholarship, which is rare. (5 muggleborns every year get a scholarship, chosen based on magical talent, through the Founder’s Book. Dumbledore and the Ministry have zero jurisdiction. Other families have to petition to gain a scholarship, which is how the Weasleys go to Hogwarts.) In order to gain a Noble title, you have to prove an income of >50,000 G a year, and then petition the Wizengamot. It is technically possible to lose your family’s nobility, but it takes a lot. In order to gain an Ancient and Noble title, your main family line must be Noble for 7 generations. At that point, your family can petition the Ancient and Noble and Most Ancient and Noble houses to gain the title (Noble houses do not have jurisdiction when it comes to Ancient and Noble Houses). In order to become Most Ancient and Noble, one’s main family line must be Ancient and Noble for 10 generations. There are a few Ancient and Noble families nearing 10 generations (mostly 6 with a few 7s and one 8 (Shafiq)) but none are there yet.

 

“But myotpruinedmylife, why are there families on the Noble list that can canonically become Ancient and Noble at least? (Ollivander).” Because they never bothered to petition. Some families don’t want the responsibility. It’s a family’s choice. In rare cases, a family can withdraw from their title, but it’s only happened twice. Still, possible.


	12. Hogwarts vs other schools

So I mentioned in my last chapter that Hogwarts tuition is expensive, and scholarships are rare. So where do the rest of the kids go?

 

The answer is lesser magic schools.

So first, I want to talk about major schools. I’m going to stick with canon mostly for these, just because it’s way easier to let JK do the work for me, though I personally have a few edits when going through the Pottermore page. If y’all are interested in me going through the articles for changes, comment below.

Quick refresher:

  * Mahoutokoro

  *     * Minami Iwo Jima, Japan

  * Uagadou

  *     * The Mountains of the Moon, Uganda (in my fic, Mount Elgon National Park)

  * Castelobruxo

  *     * Amazon Rainforest, Brazil (in my fic, west of Tefé)

  * Beauxbatons

  *     * Pyrenees, France (in my fic, just south of Lourdes, along the Spanish border)

  * Durmstrang

  *     * Northern Europe (in my fic, Finland, though bordering Russia)

  * Ilvermorny

  *     * Mount Greylock, USA.

  * Hogwarts

  *     * Central Scotland (in my fic, almost directly west of Iverness)




 

 

Think of these schools as the Harvard or Cambridge of Magical Schools. And consider that magical culture in old fashioned (compared to muggle culture, and it’s a debate and I’ll get into it later) so in the Victorian Age only rich people or nobility went to those schools unless one was extraordinarily talented. That translates to magical power, and as I noted previously, 5 powerful muggleborns get a scholarship every year. Every school does it slightly differently, but it’s comparable.

Most other schools throughout the world are more specialized. They may start out with most or all subjects that major schools teach, but they tend to get more specific over time. Essentially, trade schools. There are exceptions - about one school per magical community (slightly different from muggle countries, of course) has a bigger school for richer or talented magical children.

The one I want to mention really quick is the Irish School of Magic, which is important because Julianna’s father is Irish. Most of his family went to the Irish School of Magic, but Michael showed signs of being more magically powerful than his brothers or cousins, and so his Head of House decided to send him to Hogwarts in an attempt to a) give him a better chance, b) meet British noble kids and make friends, so c) he could boost their family in the UK. It worked, FYI, he married a girl from a Most Ancient and Noble Family and his family back in Ireland got a huge social boost in response.

 

 

Another note, though not one particularly important to this story, just something that JK did that pisses me off - I’m American. Now, my father is, actually, Irish, the grandson of immigrants, and my mother is, actually, half Italian, the granddaughter of Sicilian immigrants. (I did say this was self-insert.) But they, and I, were born in the US (Chicago, for me, won’t say for my parents) so I know American culture better than JK does by a long shot. And, I have more than one First Nations friend (they’re called that in Canada, in the US they’re Native Americans, but my friends are Canadian) so I know waaay more about First Nations culture than JK, and First Nations culture is very similar to Native American culture. On top of that, I was taught Native American culture in school (it was the subject of second grade history).

So I know exactly how many Native American magi would send their magical kids to a white school founded by racist British purebloods (okay, maybe she wasn’t supposed to be racist, but a) every white person is racist, that’s the way society works, and b) JK said she was pro-Muggle, not pro-POC), and that number is _zero_. On top of that, the US has a long, long history of the South _hating_  the North. Would a few Southerners send their kids to a Yankee School? Maybe, on occasion. But most of them would never even consider it.

And then you get into the fact that America is _huge_. One school for all American wixen? Yeah, not happening. Ilvermorny is still an “elite” school, but unlike other countries, America has another dozen “good” schools on top of their 300 trade schools. And that’s not even counting Canada, which has another half-dozen “good” schools as well. I know that JK was basing Hogwarts on a combo of Oxford and Cambridge, but the US equivalents of Oxford and Cambridge are the Ivy League schools, of which there are 8, and those are _only in the East Coast_. I can name another half-dozen really good schools from elsewhere in the country. So yeah. Ilvermorny does not work for me. So I fixed it.

BTW, I even came up with locations for a few of the “good” schools. New Orleans has a long voodoo history, the Rockies are super magical and totally mysterious so they get at least 2, New Mexico needs one, Utah another since mormons would totally have a wacky mormon magic school, the Great Lakes need 2 at least, California alone has 4 I guarantee it, and Deep South country needs 3 - one for the Carolinas, one for Alabama, Luisiana*, and Tennessee, (*outside New Orleans, since New Orleans is only technically in Luisiana anyway) and another for Ohio and Kentucky areas. Comment any other ideas, I’m putting together a list for future fics. I have a few ideas involving running away to America to get away from the insanity of British Pureblood Culture.

Also, only one school in Asia? Does JK realize that Chinese magi sending their kids to a Japanese school would _never_  happen? China hates Japan. Tibet hates China, North Korea hates South Korea, India wants West Asia to leave it alone thank you very much, just.. it does not work. But I don’t know enough about Asia to actually make the Asian school locations - the extent of my knowledge outside of minor school teaching and personal research is my bosses, who are Chinese, which is helpful when it comes to China, but not much else.

And where the fuck are Australian kids supposed to go? She has three schools for Europe, but just, forgot Australia? Plus the Polynesian islands have really longstanding schools and traditions, I guarantee it.


	13. Foster Family Tree

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I FIGURED IT OUT!!!!!

 

 

Note - The reason the children are all Foster instead of their father’s name is that the higher status name will be given to the child unless the parents specifically state otherwise, or the child is the heir to the lesser House. As none of the Foster kids are heirs to any Houses but Foster, and since Michael, Stuart, and Howard all wanted to give their children the best statuses possible, they are all Fosters. If two equal houses marry, the father’s name is usually given to the child, unless stated otherwise. *Unless the child is the heir to the lesser house, such as in the case of Draco Malfoy (his mother is from a MAaN House, but he still took his father’s name, which is AaN)

Second Note: Josephine's name is not actually Josephine, it's Amy. She has gone by her middle name her whole life, so I'm using that on the family tree. (This is true in real life, I didn't know Josie's first name until I was like 10 XD. She never used it. (She uses it more now))


	14. Foster Family Referance photos

Full Family portrait, cerca 2009 (I was 10, for reference)

My family, cerca 2010

Me, cerca 2009

And finally, me and my brother cerca 2002, around the age I am at the beginning of the story:


	15. Foster Family Photo Reference

Realized I should add names to my reference photo since y'all have no idea who these people are otherwise.

There's two Johns, but I figure y'all can figure out who's who XD

Also realized Olivia is missing, so here's her around the same time:


	16. Harry Potter photos

A few photos of Lili that I found that kind of work:

Lili, age 11, pre transition. Imagine this a few years younger, without glasses and lighter skin, and you have an idea of how I picture Lili. On that note - I cannot draw people, so if there are any artists reading this, please fanart away! I welcome it. No, really. I beg you.

Lili, Hogwarts age. Imagine the hair a few shades lighter, the eyes a little more blue, and better glasses. Also no bangs and the hair is curlier (like, a lot). Also, since the horcrux was taken when she was so young, the scar had a better chance to heal (plus the Fosters used scar potions) so her scar is barely there anymore. About equal to mine:

(I cut my head open when I was 6)

Finally, I found some awesome fanart of the Black family, as part Asian (specifically Chinese, I believe) and I love it so I had to include it:


End file.
